Author and host of the hit OUTDOOR CHANNEL show SHOOTING GALLERY spouts off...

Saturday, January 03, 2015

Dot-Ready Glocks

As we moving toward SHOT, more companies are springing leaks on new products. The latest is Glock via the Kiesler Police Supply FaceBook page. Keisler is a huge Glock dealer and they've posted new Glocks for 2015. Essentially, the practical-tactical G34 9mm, G35 .40 and G41 .45 will come from the factory already cut for a red dot sights. This isn't a surprise, since Glock has been circling the red dot issue for a couple of years while at the same time watching a whole bunch of gunsmiths make a bundle providing Perfection With Dots...I have 2 G19s myself, with a red dot G34 in planning…although with a factory option in route, I may wait a couple of months.

The bigger boom is a bigger boomer, a long slide 10mm "Hunter" G40 cut for a red dot. Somewhere, Ted Nugent is grinning like a Motor City Madman…

I would still be utterly and totally surprised if Glock didn't roll out a 9mm version of the .380 G42, which is, in fact a really nice little .380.

8 comments:

This is going to tick-off those of you who have had too much Glock KoolAid but I say, "Ho hum, so much for Glock Perfection". It is both ironic and laughable to see Glock chasing their tail, then trying to copy the S&W C.O.R.E. & Performance Center M&Ps. Unfortunately, until Glock pulls their head out of the sand and fixes their terrible grip ergonomics and chunky aesthetics, they will never have a chance to dominate the polymer-framed market that they created.

Actually, Glock DOES dominate the polymer-frame market, both civilians and police. And say what you will about them, they are damn near indestructible. For an early episode of SHOOTING GALLERY, we filmed the big GSSF match in Georgia. I asked my pal Chris Edwards to bring me a Glock to shoot in the match. Instead, he showed up at the match with a box-full of Glock pieces from the factory and showed me how to assemble the various bits into a G19.

We then loaded up the gun and I shot the match…no problems whatsoever. Shot just fine. I do not believe there is another gun manufacturer who would do that. Imagine a box of 1911 parts…LOL!!!

The sights do suck. I changed out the trigger on my G34 to a GlockTrigger EDGE, which is really sweet.

I think that the myth is outpacing the reality here MB with the “nearly indestructible” comment. I was listening to someone talk about a GSSF match and he said they had armorers present. I asked why, since their company motto is perfection...

all guns break, all of them have bad examples that spoil an otherwise good lot and such. But Glock isn’t doing anything with their pistol that others using a modified Browning operating system isn’t doing. There’s nothing wrong with what they’re doing, but nothing spectacular about it either.

it’s a shame we can’t break out of the 1911 mold; come up with a metal framed, 1911 double stack model without a frame safety, with some sort of single action trigger - right now I think the XDm is probably the better example of a factory trigger, and ... I think we can ditch the grip safety now.

I do salute Glock for making the offering of the red dot sights - but I have tried them for months on end and there’s a couple of scenarios I can’t get around. Probably the worst for me is doing a “pie the corner” with an “optic” handgun. I find that if I don’t have a 100% perfect alignment the dot is not visible and I have no reference point other than iron sights which get obscured by the frame of the red dot.

Anon, I'm going to have to try some "pie the corner" with my dot-sighted guns before I say anything. Gimme a couple of days…I gotta massively busy day Monday.

All guns do indeed break…all machines made by men break. Period. I have gone on record as saying the current generation of polymer-framed striker-fired "service" handguns are the most reliable handguns ever manufactured, and Glock did lead the way.

Glock's innovations were not with the operating system, but with taking a 19th Century invention to 20th Century levels of manufacturing.

Good move for Glock. And that will save me any fiddling I was going to have to do with my first Glock pistol after I build my 9mm carbine using Glock magazines.

I've been firmly in the M&P camp for years. The first red dot that I mounted took a couple tries and quality time with files and dremel.

Do gun companies wait to see what tinkerers come up with? Do they wait to see what 3rd party parts makers start to produce? Or do they have plans to evolve firearms and the tinkerers just aren't patient enough to wait?